Friday, January 25, 2013

And the Saga Continues!

Yesterday was Lainey's appointment with the Orthopedic Specialist. Originally, the plan was for the doctor to do surgery on Lainey's new injury, but unfortunately, that is not what happened. After the initial exam on the new injury, the doctor started examining the old injury and we discussed all of the complications we've been having since Lainey's surgery in September. After discovering that Lainey has been hyper-extending her leg for 4 months since surgery, causing the cartlidge to harden in an odd position in her hock, we decided that emergency surgery on her first injury was more of a priority at this time.The plan is to do the surgery on Leg #1 yesterday, board her at the vet for the next 10 days and then do surgery on Leg #2. The type of surgery we have chosen for Leg #2 will actually allow her to "stand" and bear weight on that leg within 24 hours and the recovery time is only about 8 weeks. This is a necessity given the fact that the recovery period for Leg #1 will be 4-6 months.I spoke with the surgeon yesterday after the first surgery was completed, and it sounds like everything went as planned. She was able to determine what was causing each of our complications and resolve each of those problems (we hope)!

As of now, Lainey is resting comfortably and is adjusting to the full leg bandage she is wearing. As for the issue with her hock, she will need to wear a brace for an undetermined amount of time (see pic for example of brace)

Fortunately, the vet is only 10 minutes away from my dad's house on the east side of the state, so I will be staying with him this weekend in order to visit Lainey as much as possible.